Mr Benjamin Boakye, the Executive Director, Africa Centre for Energy Policy, an NGO has advised the Nigerian government to utilise its mineral potential to attract requisite investments.
Boakye gave the advice in an interview with our correspondent on Tuesday in Abuja.
According to him, Nigeria is blessed with various minerals that can attract nvestors from different parts of the world to invest in its minerals.
He said in spite of the available mineral resources in Nigeria, especially dimension stones and tiles, they were still being imported from China.
He said that Nigerian government should look inward to ensure its granites or dimension stones were being utilised to attract more investments.
He said that the NGO had been working with agencies across African region to ensure they optimised their mineral resources by attracting investments and to properly regulate the sector for the country’s to benefit from the minerals extraction.
“Africa Centre for Energy Policy is an NGO based in Accra, Ghana, we want to engage agencies in Nigeria to see how they can make investments in the mineral sector.
“We also want the agencies to regulate the investments that come in and the investors that come in, so they don’t just pollute the environment while investing in the mining sector,” he said.
Boakye said that the mining sector had much more potential due to its ability to create other linkages and greater diversification.
“Mining sector can create more jobs, generate tax revenues for the country and produce some of the minerals that are needed for development.
“We have been working extensively in oil and gas sector but we are now focusing more on mining sector, which has been relegated for some time, particularly in Nigeria; the media focuses much more on oil and gas.